To give the gift of giving

Maithri Vangala, FIMRC Social Media Coordinator

Season's greetings, everyone!
If you're a FIMRC enthusiast, in the last 48 hours, you've probably heard about FIMRC's Annual Holiday Campaign:Give the gift of giving. Maybe it caught your eye in a tweet on Twitter. Perhaps you received word via e-mail in the newsletter we sent out on Thursday morning. There's always Facebook; I EVEN tried my hand at the custom apps that Facebook allows you to have to try to get your attention (give me a little credit here, I'm no coding afficionado). And of course, there's the chance that you learned about this through some or all of the social media we pushed to get your attention.

I know that during the holiday season you're used to getting word of a million and one holiday donation drives, campaigns, and pleas for aid, assistance, donation-just things. I know, it's easy to get annoyed. It's even easier to just ignore the pleas. The rhetoric is the same. The tone is always a desperate one. People need things everywhere, all of the time. In this tough economic time, we're all in a bit of need now and then.

However, if I didn't know HOW much time and effort was put into executing FIMRC's holiday campaign to ensure that it could be a win-win situation for EVERYONE who elected to be a part of it and participated, I wouldn't implore you to dig a little deeper (yes, I'm imploring right now). We've got something good, I promise.

To make the concept a little more clear, I'll try to outline the reasoning behind the concept of giving the gift of giving with FIMRCthis year. Since the process to participate in our campaign is outlined in 3 easy steps, I'll try to keep additional thoughts simple (and in 3 steps), too.

We worked really hard to come up with three campaigns that encompass the work that we do globally and the needs we currently have in the field. And because it's really difficult to outline clearly what a donor's contribution goes to specifically, we also listed the most relevent and pressing items needed in the field for each campaign. At FIMRC, we would like to be as transparent and upfront with you as possible. The website briefly describes our campaigns, and if you are a part of our mailing list or checked out our recent newsletter, you've possibly seen an explanation of our holiday campaign choices. However, in the interest of clarity, we'll catch you up to speed here too. Keep reading :-).

Maternal and Child Health (MCH)

Maternal and child health is not only at the heart of FIMRC's focus and mission, but is also one of the most pressing priorities to address and support for the health of our entire world.

Your contribution to this campaign would go toward the purchase of items like prenatal vitamins and iron, condoms, soap and hand sanitizer, infant Tylenol, and even medications to combat upper respiratory illnesses, acute bacterial infections, and parasites.

Nutrition

Children suffer from malnutrition not solely due to a lack of food. Instead, malnutrition really results from a number of factors: poor maternal health, uninformed infant care and feeding, and a lack of access to clean water or the basic means to keep clean.

Items that that would help us tackle this complicated battle include children's multivitamins, prenatal vitamins, iron supplements for women and children, infant formula, soap and hand sanitizer, and even water filters.

Advanced Clinical Care (ACC)

Providing our communities with the BEST care possible is accomplished through partnerships FIMRC has forged. In order to maintain these partnerships and work closely with larger medical entities so that the people of our communities can benefit from these local resources, we try to fill the gaps in terms of resources that they might be missing.

Some supplies that we often give to our medical partners in various project sites include syringes, blood sugar testing materials, blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, and a variety of surgical instruments.

You're seen the model often enough--picking a donation level. It's pretty common to have the levels labeled silver, gold, and platinum. We know; we just wanted to keep things simple. There's not a WHOLE lot to say here, except to mention that we took some time to think about how we chose our donation levels to ensure that the specified amounts were fair assessments of how our needs at each project site could be met. As you take a look at our campaign, we hope you'll feel that way too!

Here lies our method to thank you for your generosity by trying to make your donation a worthwhile and practical measure during this terribly busy holiday season. Once you've chosen a campaign and a donation level, you can dedicate your contribution to a loved one and give the gift of giving. As mentioned before, people are in need everywhere, all of the time. It's so easy to forget this, to turn a blind eye. But what if instead of that brand new iPhone or Kindle Fire:

What if you single-handedly provided the prenatal care for one pregnant mother in El Salvador orUganda? What if you provided access to better nutrition to a child in India or Costa Rica? What if you bolstered the resources of a hospital in Peru or the Ministry of Health in Nicaragua?

And what if you did it for a friend, a family member, a co-worker...anyone that you care about? What if you ACTUALLY gifted them with the gift of giving? Think of the message you'd be sending someone. Think of the culture of generosity, philanthropy, compassion, and selflessness that you would be promoting with such an action.

To me, there is no better culture in the entire world.

This is our very FIRST holiday campaign, and while we're terribly enthusiastic, we have a lot to learn, and learning we will do. With just 2 weeks left until 2012, I write to you today with great conviction.

Choosing to take part in giving the gift of giving with FIMRCis not something you will regret. Our team is dedicated to our mission to improve the health of children in underserved communities around the world, and we'll see our goals through.

However, even if you don't choose to be a part of FIMRC's holiday campaign, I do hope that you'll find another worthy cause to provide some attention toward, at any time that is right for you. It's really the season to give, and to give the gift of giving, all of the time.

I wish you all a very warm and happy holiday season!

Maithri

If you made it this far, you're an absolute star for having the patience to hear me out. If you have additional questions about our holiday campaign, feel free to contact us at holidaycampaign@fimrc.org.

And you're always welcome to get in touch with me by filling out the form on contact page of The FIMRC Blog.